Fracking too risky for WNC, green group tells citizens

Published: Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 10:14 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 10:14 p.m.

As state geologists prepare to test for natural gas potential in seven mountain counties this summer or fall, a regional environmental group held a meeting Thursday in Brevard to warn residents of the risks of an extraction method called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Executive Director Lou Zeller and Therese Vick of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League spoke to roughly 90 citizens during a public forum at the Transylvania County Library, offering a litany of dangers facing North Carolina counties if the natural gas industry finds deposits and starts drilling.

While groundwater pollution is fracking's chief threat, Zeller and Vick said other impacts include air pollution, the loss of private property rights and increases in crime, noise, traffic, rents and social problems brought on by the arrival of the gas industry's transient workforce into communities, Vick said.

Hydraulic fracturing is a process in which millions of gallons of pressurized water, sand and chemicals are injected into wells up to 8,000 feet deep to fracture shale rock and release trapped gas. Anyone who gets their water from a well should be concerned, Zeller said.

“It travels through those underground strata, and under pressure, it can work its way back up through those fissures into the water-bearing layer,” Zeller said. “This is what we see when these fracking chemicals are introduced into the soil. They don't just go away.”

For each well that is drilled, between 2 million and 8 million gallons of “this witches' brew of 750 chemicals” are injected deep into the earth, Zeller said. Between one-fifth and four-fifths of that stays in the ground, he said, including such toxic ingredients as formaldehyde, benzene and ethylene glycol.

A new law signed by Gov. Pat McCrory this month lifted a 2012 moratorium on fracking in North Carolina, allowing it to begin as early as 2015. BREDL says the law also makes it a misdemeanor for regulators, first responders and medical providers to disclose trade secrets such as the chemicals used by gas drillers.

Pollution issues aren't the only scary thing about fracking, Vick said. If enough of your neighbors agree to lease their properties for gas exploration and development, they can apply to the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission and compel you to participate in what's called “forced pooling.”

“So it's a real taking of private property rights, because it's a highly industrial activity,” Vick said. “There are roads and pits and tanks and the actual well pad itself that can all be put on your property. You have no surface rights agreements that are required at this time, and you will not be allowed to keep them from getting their minerals.”

Despite natural gas' reputation as a clean form of energy, Vick said fracking operations in other parts of the country generate high levels of toxic air emissions. “They've had problems with benzene above the legal limits in West Virginia, they've had problems with ozone in very rural areas,” she said, and Texas regulators found benzene levels at one fracking site so high “that they considered it unsafe and they left.”

State officials say they haven't determined yet whether the state's bedrock is even capable of producing commercial volumes of natural gas, and some legislators have pooh-poohed fracking as a legitimate threat, given the poor results of past test wells.

But Zeller said the gas industry wouldn't be putting forth so much effort to fight regulatory scrutiny in Raleigh if executives didn't think there weren't resources to be tapped.

“They're proceeding as quickly as they can; they're running roughshod over existing state rules in North Carolina and doing all the things Therese has witnessed in the rule-making process because they know something that they haven't told us yet,” he said.

The General Assembly has directed geologists with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to collect rock samples in seven WNC counties and test them for “total organic carbon, which is a key requirement for the existence of oil and natural gas,” said DENR Spokesman Jamie Kritzer.

The North Carolina Geologic Survey has spent three decades determining where there are potential “organic-rich rock formations” across the state, Kritzer said, “and one of those areas happens to be in the far western reaches of North Carolina.”

As early as this August, Kritzer said state geologists could begin collecting rocks along state right-of-ways in Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties “in areas where they feel the potential is for these organic-rich formations.”

Private contractors will analyze the rocks to see whether those areas are likely to harbor gas deposits, he said. If the potential for gas deposits exists, Kritzer said the state then must determine whether hydraulic fracturing or horizontal drilling can be done in those areas.

“So there are several hurdles that have to be cleared before this can happen,” he said.

Kritzer added that geologists consider the Sandhills region around Lee County as holding the best potential for natural gas deposits statewide.

The forum at Transylvania's library was co-sponsored by the Pisgah Group of the Sierra Club and People for Clean Mountains, a chapter of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.

<p>As state geologists prepare to test for natural gas potential in seven mountain counties this summer or fall, a regional environmental group held a meeting Thursday in Brevard to warn residents of the risks of an extraction method called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.</p><p>Executive Director Lou Zeller and Therese Vick of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League spoke to roughly 90 citizens during a public forum at the Transylvania County Library, offering a litany of dangers facing North Carolina counties if the natural gas industry finds deposits and starts drilling.</p><p>While groundwater pollution is fracking's chief threat, Zeller and Vick said other impacts include air pollution, the loss of private property rights and increases in crime, noise, traffic, rents and social problems brought on by the arrival of the gas industry's transient workforce into communities, Vick said.</p><p>Hydraulic fracturing is a process in which millions of gallons of pressurized water, sand and chemicals are injected into wells up to 8,000 feet deep to fracture shale rock and release trapped gas. Anyone who gets their water from a well should be concerned, Zeller said.</p><p>“It travels through those underground strata, and under pressure, it can work its way back up through those fissures into the water-bearing layer,” Zeller said. “This is what we see when these fracking chemicals are introduced into the soil. They don't just go away.”</p><p>For each well that is drilled, between 2 million and 8 million gallons of “this witches' brew of 750 chemicals” are injected deep into the earth, Zeller said. Between one-fifth and four-fifths of that stays in the ground, he said, including such toxic ingredients as formaldehyde, benzene and ethylene glycol.</p><p>A new law signed by Gov. Pat McCrory this month lifted a 2012 moratorium on fracking in North Carolina, allowing it to begin as early as 2015. BREDL says the law also makes it a misdemeanor for regulators, first responders and medical providers to disclose trade secrets such as the chemicals used by gas drillers.</p><p>Pollution issues aren't the only scary thing about fracking, Vick said. If enough of your neighbors agree to lease their properties for gas exploration and development, they can apply to the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission and compel you to participate in what's called “forced pooling.”</p><p>“So it's a real taking of private property rights, because it's a highly industrial activity,” Vick said. “There are roads and pits and tanks and the actual well pad itself that can all be put on your property. You have no surface rights agreements that are required at this time, and you will not be allowed to keep them from getting their minerals.”</p><p>Despite natural gas' reputation as a clean form of energy, Vick said fracking operations in other parts of the country generate high levels of toxic air emissions. “They've had problems with benzene above the legal limits in West Virginia, they've had problems with ozone in very rural areas,” she said, and Texas regulators found benzene levels at one fracking site so high “that they considered it unsafe and they left.”</p><p>State officials say they haven't determined yet whether the state's bedrock is even capable of producing commercial volumes of natural gas, and some legislators have pooh-poohed fracking as a legitimate threat, given the poor results of past test wells.</p><p>But Zeller said the gas industry wouldn't be putting forth so much effort to fight regulatory scrutiny in Raleigh if executives didn't think there weren't resources to be tapped.</p><p>“They're proceeding as quickly as they can; they're running roughshod over existing state rules in North Carolina and doing all the things Therese has witnessed in the rule-making process because they know something that they haven't told us yet,” he said.</p><p>The General Assembly has directed geologists with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to collect rock samples in seven WNC counties and test them for “total organic carbon, which is a key requirement for the existence of oil and natural gas,” said DENR Spokesman Jamie Kritzer.</p><p>The North Carolina Geologic Survey has spent three decades determining where there are potential “organic-rich rock formations” across the state, Kritzer said, “and one of those areas happens to be in the far western reaches of North Carolina.”</p><p>As early as this August, Kritzer said state geologists could begin collecting rocks along state right-of-ways in Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties “in areas where they feel the potential is for these organic-rich formations.”</p><p>Private contractors will analyze the rocks to see whether those areas are likely to harbor gas deposits, he said. If the potential for gas deposits exists, Kritzer said the state then must determine whether hydraulic fracturing or horizontal drilling can be done in those areas.</p><p>“So there are several hurdles that have to be cleared before this can happen,” he said.</p><p>Kritzer added that geologists consider the Sandhills region around Lee County as holding the best potential for natural gas deposits statewide.</p><p>The forum at Transylvania's library was co-sponsored by the Pisgah Group of the Sierra Club and People for Clean Mountains, a chapter of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.</p><p>___</p><p>Reach Axtell at than.axtell@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7860.</p>